COVID-19 global game changer

Dear Editor:

We were enjoying a couple of “red ones” the other night on the sundeck, My first wife slices her drink with ice cubes and ginger ale (ugh) , I sip mine as is, me being experienced in the art.

I asked her if she was happy. She said, “I am not unhappy.” I replied, “Was that an answer?” She went on.

“How can one be really happy with all that’s going on in the world... just look at how awful things are globally and yet, at the same time, we are so lucky to be living

here, but I still feel the hurt for all the people suffering in other countries. It’s heartbreaking to see it on TV.”

Of course, I understood where she was coming from because for me knowing that there are people worse off than me is of little comfort, but it has never created a comfortable pillow to sleep on.

I asked her, “So where is your God in all this?” (Me being a atheist, she being a believer.)

We’ve had this conversation before, it always has a fragmented ending, it usually ends up with either one of us entertaining certain doubts.

There is one thing we both agree on, life as we knew it, will not return in our lifetime, this bug will go down in infamy as a permanent world game changer, the softspoken words from our local authorities will have a hollow sound to them as we see the world outside our boundaries failing to keep control in unison.

We fear for the younger ones who, through no fault of their own, been denied full education, we fear the newlyweds will refrain from having children, we fear political misgivings from powerful leaders will only exacerbate the dilemma, we wish there was someone in the wings, be it female or male or anything in between with a vision and gift to set the world on a new path.

We were born in the early 1940. We think we have seen it all, we do believe we had the best and worst of times.

What do you think people, do you still have hope?

Don Smithyman

Oliver